Cindy Harper
Cindy Harper blogs mostly about social media censorship and culture stories. [email protected]
Turkey to Ban Anonymous VPNs
Ankara wants a VPN market where “approved” means logged and “unlicensed” means illegal, leaving Turkish users a choice between surveillance and a criminal record.
California Lawmakers Advance Bills to Impose AI Chatbot Censorship and Age Verification
California’s new bills would let state lawmakers define, by statute, exactly how agreeable a chatbot is allowed to be.
Ofcom Investigates Telegram Under UK “Online Safety Act”
The regulator’s list of duties runs far beyond child safety into foreign interference, false communications, and public-order speech.
MembersThe Retreat of the Open Internet
Self-preservation looks a lot like surrender from the outside.
DOJ Blocks France’s X Probe, Citing First Amendment
The refusal puts American mutual-assistance treaties off the table for European speech prosecutions, and Paris is the first to find out.
FTC Settlement: Ad Agencies Agree to Stop “Brand Safety” Collusion to Defund Media Outlets
The agencies literally quoted Fight Club rules to keep their $81 billion blacklist quiet.
California’s “Stop Nick Shirley Act” Would Penalize Journalism
The First Amendment was designed to prevent exactly this; a law that punishes speech before any court decides whether it was harmful.
Turkey to Require National ID for Social Media Accounts
Turkey’s government just found a way to put a national ID card on every tweet, post, and comment its citizens make online.
Secret Grand Jury Convened to Unmask Anonymous Government Critic on Reddit
The government lost its case in open court, so it moved the whole thing behind closed doors.
Reno Police Sued After Wrongful Arrest Based on Facial Recognition Errors
The officer who arrested him later admitted under oath it never should have happened, and that doing it this way was department policy.
UK Foreign Affairs Committee Calls for Government Agency to Police Online “Disinformation”
A parliamentary committee just proposed giving a GCHQ-adjacent agency the power to decide which speech counts as a national security threat.
Alberta Bill Would Fine Political Deepfakes $10,000 Without Satire Exemptions
The bill makes no distinction between a fake video designed to suppress votes and a satirical meme poking fun at the premier.